Tag Archives: depression

Choosing the writing life means choosing to put yourself up for rejection over and over again. Why do we do this? Are we lunatics better suited to religious practices that involve self-immolation?

I don’t know why. But it’s hard to get rejected, reviewed, and critiqued day in and day out. Sometimes I roll with it. Sometimes I despair. If you are in the despair phase, here are some places to turn.

Dave Gessner offers us the middle finger approach, which I heartily advocate.

Though I am not particularly proud of it, one way that I respond to being told my work is unwanted is by getting angry, rejecting my rejections… So what do we do with this energy, angry or not? One thing we can do it write. Better, sharper stories than before. We look rejection coldly in the eye and say, “No, that’s not true,” or sometimes “Yes, maybe that’s a little true….I’ve got to get better at that.” We write regularly, daily, with a calm fury. We show the bastards.

Finally, I offer this suggestion. Remember that you are not alone. Find your people and commiserate. Read the worst rejection letters. Pick up THE WRITERS BOOK OF HOPE by Ralph Keyes. Join Kristen Lamb and the #myWANA peeps on Twitter.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE. (I’m there with you in a fetal position, slurping whiskey from a sippy cup and sticking a pen in my eye.)

Find Me:

Hi! Thanks for visiting my website and checking out my books. I love connecting with readers, librarians, teachers, and other writers.

Just so you know what to expect from me… I blog infrequently here, mostly about big ideas or particular experiences that have gotten under my skin and continue to niggle me.

I’m the most interactive on Twitter. I use Goodreads to track my own reading habits and for giveaways. Detailed information about book releases and events is on my Facebook author page. (Sorry, but I can’t accept friend requests on my personal FB feed from people I don’t know in real life. It’s a safety thing.)